Boston Dynamics retires dancing Atlas robot — and debuts its electric replacement

Boston Dynamics formally retired its hydraulic-powered Atlas robotic — and presented the sphere to its subsequent-gen substitute.

Close of an era: Boston Dynamics developed Atlas on the rely on of DARPA, which became desirous about using humanoid robots for search and rescue missions, and since unveiling the essential model in 2013, it has periodically upgraded Atlas with current hardware and tool.

Videos of the Atlas robotic demonstrating its most up-to-date capabilities (and dance moves) obtain gone viral customarily, and on April 16, Boston Dynamics shared the absolute top hits (and fails) of the robotic in a video titled “Farewell to HD Atlas.”

“For nearly a decade, Atlas has sparked our imagination, impressed the following generations of roboticists, and leapt over technical boundaries within the sphere,” Boston Dynamics wrote within the video’s description. “Now it’s time for our hydraulic Atlas robotic to kick support and quiet down.”

A brand current Atlas robotic? Despite the reputation of Atlas on-line, Boston Dynamics, which became got by Hyundai in 2021, has under no circumstances gave the affect desirous about making an attempt to commercialize the humanoid the identical formulation it did with its Put and Stretch robots — Atlas became strictly for learn, per the corporate.

The retirement of its humanoid R&D platform now, when apparently every various robotics company is making moves to catch humanoids into the workforce, gave the affect counterintuitive, main some to speculate that Boston Dynamics planned to exchange the bot with a current manufacture.

The indisputable truth that the description and title of the YouTube video specified “hydraulic Atlas” and “HD Atlas,” respectively, urged that that “one thing else” could well perhaps very smartly be an all-electric model of the bot, which could well perhaps perhaps be extra shopper pleasant than one powered by hydraulics.

A brand current Atlas robotic: Those suspicions turned out to be appropriate. A day after releasing the hydraulic Atlas’ retirement video, Boston Dynamics shared one other clip introducing the sphere to its absolutely electric substitute, which is “designed for valid-world applications.”

The present Atlas robotic doesn’t terminate a lot higher than come up and take a dozen or so steps within the clip, but it does so with authorized Boston Dynamics’ aptitude, and per a weblog publish, we’ll be seeing loads extra of the robotic because it transitions from the lab to the valid world.

“This toddle will originate with Hyundai — apart from to investing in us, the Hyundai workforce is constructing the following technology of automobile manufacturing capabilities, and this could support as a absolute top making an attempt out ground for current Atlas applications,” wrote Boston Dynamics.

“In the months and years ahead, we’re furious to illustrate what the sphere’s most dynamic humanoid robotic can undoubtedly terminate — within the lab, within the factory, and in our lives,” it continued.

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